Bard

---

---

Overview & Creation

Humming as she traces her fingers over an ancient monument in a long-forgotten ruin, a half-elf in rugged leathers finds knowledge springing into her mind, conjured forth by the magic of her song—knowledge of the people who constructed the monument and the mythic saga it depicts.   A stern human warrior bangs his sword rhythmically against his scale mail, setting the tempo for his war chant and exhorting his companions to bravery and heroism. The magic of his song fortifies and emboldens them.   Laughing as she tunes her lute, a gnome weaves her subtle magic over the assembled nobles, ensuring that her companions’ words will be well received.   Whether scholar, or scoundrel, a bard weaves magic through words and music to inspire allies, demoralize foes, manipulate minds, create illusions, and even heal wounds.  

Music and Magic

In the worlds of D&D, words and music are not just vibrations of air, but vocalizations with power all their own. The bard is a master of song, speech, and the magic they contain. Bards say that the multiverse was spoken into existence, that the words of the gods gave it shape, and that echoes of these primordial Words of Creation still resound throughout the cosmos. The music of bards is an attempt to snatch and harness those echoes, subtly woven into their spells and powers.   The greatest strength of bards is their sheer versatility. Many bards prefer to stick to the sidelines in combat, using their magic to inspire their allies and hinder their foes from a distance. But bards are capable of defending themselves in melee if necessary, using their magic to bolster their swords and armor. Their spells lean toward charms and illusions rather than blatantly destructive spells. They have a wide-ranging knowledge of many subjects and a natural aptitude that lets them do almost anything well. Bards become masters of the talents they set their minds to perfecting, from musical performance to esoteric knowledge.  

Learning from Experience

True bards are not common in the world. Not every minstrel singing in a tavern or jester cavorting in a royal court is a bard. Discovering the magic hidden in music requires hard study and some measure of natural talent that most troubadours and jongleurs lack. It can be hard to spot the difference between these performers and true bards, though. A bard’s life is spent wandering across the land gathering lore, telling stories, and living on the gratitude of audiences, much like any other entertainer. But a depth of knowledge, a level of musical skill, and a touch of magic set bards apart from their fellows.   Only rarely do bards settle in one place for long, and their natural desire to travel—to find new tales to tell, new skills to learn, and new discoveries beyond the horizon—makes an adventuring career a natural calling. Every adventure is an opportunity to learn, practice a variety of skills, enter long-forgotten tombs, discover lost works of magic, decipher old tomes, travel to strange places, or encounter exotic creatures. Bards love to accompany heroes to witness their deeds firsthand. A bard who can tell an awe-inspiring story from personal experience earns renown among other bards. Indeed, after telling so many stories about heroes accomplishing mighty deeds, many bards take these themes to heart and assume heroic roles themselves.  

Creating a Bard

Bards thrive on stories, whether those stories are true or not. Your character’s background and motivations are not as important as the stories that he or she tells about them. Perhaps you had a secure and mundane childhood. There’s no good story to be told about that, so you might paint yourself as an orphan raised by a hag in a dismal swamp. Or your childhood might be worthy of a story. Some bards acquire their magical music through extraordinary means, including the inspiration of fey or other supernatural creatures.   Did you serve an apprenticeship, studying under a master, following the more experienced bard until you were ready to strike out on your own? Or did you attend a college where you studied bardic lore and practiced your musical magic? Perhaps you were a young runaway or orphan, befriended by a wandering bard who became your mentor. Or you might have been a spoiled noble child tutored by a master. Perhaps you stumbled into the clutches of a hag, making a bargain for a musical gift in addition to your life and freedom, but at what cost?  

QUICK BUILD

You can make a bard quickly by following these suggestions. First, Charisma should be your highest ability score, followed by Dexterity. Second, choose the entertainer background. Third, choose the dancing lights and vicious mockery cantrips, along with the following 1st-level spells: charm person, detect magic, healing word, and thunderwave.  

The Bard

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Features	Cantrips Known	Spells Known	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	+2	Spellcasting, Bardic Inspiration (d6)	2	4	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	+2	Jack of All Trades, Song of Rest (d6)	2	5	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3rd	+2	Bardic College, Expertise	2	6	4	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4th	+2	Ability Score Improvement	3	7	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5th	+3	Bardic Inspiration (d8), Font of Inspiration	3	8	4	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-
6th	+3	Countercharm, Bard College Feature	3	9	4	3	3	-	-	-	-	-	-
7th	+3	-	3	10	4	3	3	1	-	-	-	-	-
8th	+3	Ability Score Improvement	3	11	4	3	3	2	-	-	-	-	-
9th	+4	Song of Rest (d8)	3	12	4	3	3	3	1	-	-	-	-
10th	+4	Bardic Inspiration (d10), Expertise, Magical Secrets	4	14	4	3	3	3	2	-	-	-	-
11th	+4	-	4	15	4	3	3	3	2	1	-	-	-
12th	+4	Ability Score Improvement	4	15	4	3	3	3	2	1	-	-	-
13th	+5	Song of Rest (d10)	4	16	4	3	3	3	2	1	1	-	-
14th	+5	Magical Secrets, Bard College Feature	4	18	4	3	3	3	2	1	1	-	-
15th	+5	Bardic Inspiration (d12)	4	19	4	3	3	3	2	1	1	1	-
16th	+5	Ability Score Improvement	4	19	4	3	3	3	2	1	1	1	-
17th	+6	Song of Rest (d12)	4	20	4	3	3	3	2	1	1	1	1
18th	+6	Magical Secrets	4	22	4	3	3	3	3	1	1	1	1
19th	+6	Ability Score Improvement	4	22	4	3	3	3	3	2	1	1	1
20th	+6	Superior Inspiration	4	22	4	3	3	3	3	2	2	1	1

 

---

Class Features

Bardic Inspiration

You can inspire others through stirring words or music. To do so, you use a bonus action on your turn to choose one creature other than yourself within 60 feet of you who can hear you. That creature gains one Bardic Inspiration die, a d6.   Once within the next 10 minutes, the creature can roll the die and add the number rolled to one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw it makes. The creature can wait until after it rolls the d20 before deciding to use the Bardic Inspiration die, but must decide before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once the Bardic Inspiration die is rolled, it is lost. A creature can have only one Bardic Inspiration die at a time.   You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once). You regain any expended uses when you finish a long rest.   Your Bardic Inspiration die changes when you reach certain levels in this class. The die becomes a d8 at 5th level, a d10 at 10th level, and a d12 at 15th level.  

Jack of All Trades

Starting at 2nd level, you can add half your proficiency bonus, rounded down, to any ability check you make that doesn’t already include your proficiency bonus.  

Song of Rest

Beginning at 2nd level, you can use soothing music or oration to help revitalize your wounded allies during a short rest. If you or any friendly creatures who can hear your performance regain hit points at the end of the short rest by spending one or more Hit Dice, each of those creatures regains an extra 1d6 hit points.   The extra hit points increase when you reach certain levels in this class: to 1d8 at 9th level, to 1d10 at 13th level, and to 1d12 at 17th level.  

Bard College

At 3rd level, you delve into the advanced techniques of a bard college of your choice: The College of Glamour, The College of Legends, College of Lore, College of Quips, College of Stars, College of Swords, College of Valor, or College of Whispers, all detailed at the end of the class description. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th and 14th level.  

Expertise

At 3rd level, choose two of your skill proficiencies. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of the chosen proficiencies.  

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.   Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.  

Font of Inspiration

Beginning when you reach 5th level, you regain all of your expended uses of Bardic Inspiration when you finish a short or long rest.  

Countercharm

At 6th level, you gain the ability to use musical notes or words of power to disrupt mind-influencing effects. As an action, you can start a performance that lasts until the end of your next turn. During that time, you and any friendly creatures within 30 feet of you have advantage on saving throws against being frightened or charmed. A creature must be able to hear you to gain this benefit. The performance ends early if you are incapacitated or silenced or if you voluntarily end it (no action required).  

Expertise

At 10th level, choose two more of your skill proficiencies. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of the chosen proficiencies.  

Magical Secrets

By 10th level, you have plundered magical knowledge from a wide spectrum of disciplines. Choose two spells from any classes, including this one. A spell you choose must be of a level you can cast, as shown on the Bard table, or a cantrip.   The chosen spells count as bard spells for you and are included in the number in the Spells Known column of the Bard table.   You learn two additional spells from any classes at 14th level and again at 18th level.  

Magical Secrets

At 14th level, you have plundered magical knowledge from a wide spectrum of disciplines. Choose two spells from any classes, including this one. A spell you choose must be of a level you can cast, as shown on the Bard table, or a cantrip.   The chosen spells count as bard spells for you and are included in the number in the Spells Known column of the Bard table.   You learn two additional spells from any classes at 18th level.  

Magical Secrets

At 18th level, you have plundered magical knowledge from a wide spectrum of disciplines. Choose two spells from any classes, including this one. A spell you choose must be of a level you can cast, as shown on the Bard table, or a cantrip.   The chosen spells count as bard spells for you and are included in the number in the Spells Known column of the Bard table.  

Superior Inspiration

At 20th level, when you roll initiative and have no uses of Bardic Inspiration left, you regain one use.

---

Starting Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) a rapier, (b) two martial weapons, or (c) any simple weapon

• (a) a diplomat's pack or (b) an entertainer's pack

• (a) a lute or (b) any other musical instrument

• Leather armor and a dagger

 

---

Spellcasting

You have learned to untangle and reshape the fabric of reality in harmony with your wishes and music. Your spells are part of your vast repertoire, magic that you can tune to different situations. See Spells Rules for the general rules of spellcasting and the Spells Listing for the bard spell list.  

Cantrips

You know two cantrips of your choice from the bard spell list. You learn additional bard cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the Bard table.  

Spell Slots

The Bard table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your bard spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.   For example, if you know the 1st-level spell cure wounds and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast cure wounds using either slot.  

Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher

You know four 1st-level spells of your choice from the bard spell list.   The Spells Known column of the Bard table shows when you learn more bard spells of your choice. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots, as shown on the table. For instance, when you reach 3rd level in this class, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level.   Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the bard spells you know and replace it with another spell from the bard spell list, which also must be of a level for which you have spell slots.  

Spellcasting Ability

Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your bard spells. Your magic comes from the heart and soul you pour into the performance of your music or oration. You use your Charisma whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Charisma modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a bard spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.   Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier   Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier  

Ritual Casting

You can cast any bard spell you know as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag.  

Spellcasting Focus

You can use a musical instrument (see the Tools section) as a spellcasting focus for your bard spells.

---

Subclass Options

College of Glamour

---

The College of Glamour is the home of bards who mastered their craft in the vibrant realm of the Feywild or under the tutelage of someone who dwelled there. Tutored by satyrs, eladrin, and other fey, these bards learn to use their magic to delight and captivate others.   The bards of this college are regarded with a mixture of awe and fear. Their performances are the stuff of legend. These bards are so eloquent that a speech or song that one of them performs can cause captors to release the bard unharmed and can lull a furious dragon into complacency. The same magic that allows them to quell beasts can also bend minds. Villainous bards of this college can leech off a community for weeks, misusing their magic to turn their hosts into thralls. Heroic bards of this college instead use this power to gladden the downtrodden and undermine oppressors.    

Mantle of Inspiration

When you join the College of Glamour at 3rd level, you gain the ability to weave a song of fey magic that imbues your allies with vigor and speed.   As a bonus action, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to grant yourself a wondrous appearance. When you do so, choose a number of creatures you can see and that can see you within 60 feet of you, up to a number equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one). Each of them gains 5 temporary hit points. When a creature gains these temporary hit points, it can immediately use its reaction to move up to its speed, without provoking opportunity attacks.   The number of temporary hit points increases when you reach certain levels in this class, increasing to 8 at 5th level, 11 at 10th level, and 14 at 15th level.  

Enthralling Performance

Starting at 3rd level, you can charge your performance with seductive, fey magic.   If you perform for at least 1 minute, you can attempt to inspire wonder in your audience by singing, reciting a poem, or dancing. At the end of the performance, choose a number of humanoids within 60 feet of you who watched and listened to all of it, up to a number equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one). Each target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be charmed by you. While charmed in this way, the target idolizes you, it speaks glowingly of you to anyone who talks to it, and it hinders anyone who opposes you, although it avoids violence unless it was already inclined to fight on your behalf. This effect ends on a target after 1 hour, if it takes any damage, if you attack it, or if it witnesses you attacking or damaging any of its allies.   If a target succeeds on its saving throw, the target has no hint that you tried to charm it.   Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.  

Mantle of Majesty

At 6th level, you gain the ability to cloak yourself in a fey magic that makes others want to serve you. As a bonus action, you cast command, without expending a spell slot, and you take on an appearance of unearthly beauty for 1 minute or until your concentration ends (as if you were concentrating on a spell). During this time, you can cast command as a bonus action on each of your turns, without expending a spell slot.   Any creature charmed by you automatically fails its saving throw against the command you cast with this feature.   Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.  

Unbreakable Majesty

At 14th level, your appearance permanently gains an otherworldly aspect that makes you look more lovely and fierce.   In addition, as a bonus action, you can assume a magically majestic presence for 1 minute or until you are incapacitated. For the duration, whenever any creature tries to attack you for the first time on a turn, the attacker must make a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, it can’t attack you on this turn, and it must choose a new target for its attack or the attack is wasted. On a successful save, it can attack you on this turn, but it has disadvantage on any saving throw it makes against your spells on your next turn.   Once you assume this majestic presence, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.  

College of Legends

---

The College of Legends teaches songs of fabled stories. Oriented around creating adventurous paths and spreading lawful actions, bards of the College of Legends strive to influence others. Singing and performing is their way to reflect on the past, and to direct themselves to desirable consequences. Most bards of the College of Legends value order, but they value the prospect of great tales and the pursuit of them more than any decree.  

Epic Refrain

When you join the College of Legends at 3rd level, you create great music of past legends and reflection that strives towards greatness, and even death will not stop your allies. You gain proficiency with death saving throws, and when you are stable you may choose to restore a Bardic Inspiration die of hit points along with regaining consciousness.  

Enthralling Performance

At 3rd level, when a use of Bardic Inspiration is expended, you may use your reaction to cast a cantrip from the bard spell list  

Fateful Recital

At 6th level, your spells are greatly woven in with fate. You may name one cantrip or spell at the end of your current turn. You may add your proficiency bonus to any healing or damage rolls to that cantrip or spell until the end of your next turn, but it must be the first action you make before movement in your next turn or you will take psychic damage equal to your Bardic Inspiration die. Enemies are aware when you name a cantrip or spell.  

Ancient's Chorus

At 6th level, your song echoes the chants of legends long forgotten to your allies, channeling your grand vision to them. Allies may now roll a Bardic Inspiration die and take half that result to regain that many hit points upon being stable, and may regain consciousness. Additionally, your allies gain half your proficiency bonus when making death saving throws.  

Fabled Presence

Starting at 14th level, you strive further towards higher power and your artistic inspiration resonates within allies. After using a spell of 1st level or higher, name an ally. If they end their next turn within 10 ft. of you, they heal hit points equal to the result of a Bardic Inspiration die.    

College of Lore

---

Bards of the College of Lore know something about most things, collecting bits of knowledge from sources as diverse as scholarly tomes and peasant tales. Whether singing folk ballads in taverns or elaborate compositions in royal courts, these bards use their gifts to hold audiences spellbound. When the applause dies down, the audience members might find themselves questioning everything they held to be true, from their faith in the priesthood of the local temple to their loyalty to the king.   The loyalty of these bards lies in the pursuit of beauty and truth, not in fealty to a monarch or following the tenets of a deity. A noble who keeps such a bard as a herald or advisor knows that the bard would rather be honest than politic.   The college’s members gather in libraries and sometimes in actual colleges, complete with classrooms and dormitories, to share their lore with one another. They also meet at festivals or affairs of state, where they can expose corruption, unravel lies, and poke fun at self-important figures of authority.  

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Lore at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with three skills of your choice.  

Cutting Words

Also at 3rd level, you learn how to use your wit to distract, confuse, and otherwise sap the confidence and competence of others. When a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you makes an attack roll, an ability check, or a damage roll, you can use your reaction to expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, rolling a Bardic Inspiration die and subtracting the number rolled from the creature’s roll. You can choose to use this feature after the creature makes its roll, but before the DM determines whether the attack roll or ability check succeeds or fails, or before the creature deals its damage. The creature is immune if it can’t hear you or if it’s immune to being charmed.  

Additional Magical Secrets

At 6th level, you learn two spells of your choice from any class. A spell you choose must be of a level you can cast, as shown on the Bard table, or a cantrip. The chosen spells count as bard spells for you but don’t count against the number of bard spells you know.  

Peerless Skill

Starting at 14th level, when you make an ability check, you can expend one use of Bardic Inspiration. Roll a Bardic Inspiration die and add the number rolled to your ability check. You can choose to do so after you roll the die for the ability check, but before the DM tells you whether you succeed or fail.    

College of Quips

---

From crowded squares to busy streets and dark alleys, the bards of the College of Quips have adapted to an environment where sharp wit and a quick tongue has ensured both their success and survival. These individuals handle the language like few other, and are able to come up with insults that can crush their opponent in a million ways, both figuratively and literally. Few people make the mistake of getting into an argument with such a bard twice, as these controversial entertainers will always leave with the last word and the appreciation of the crowd carrying them forward.  

Experienced Heckler

When you join the College of Quips at 3rd level, your sharp mind has learned to handle the nuances of mockery and insults with ease. You learn the vicious mockery cantrip if you don’t know it already. Additionally, you may forfeit the ability to give an enemy disadvantage with vicious mockery, to instead apply one of the following effects if the enemy fails their save:  

• Linguistic Killshot: Deal them 1d6 damage
• Halting Comment: You reduce the target's movement speed for their next or current turn (your choice).
• Distracting Obscenity: The next attack against the enemy is rolled with advantage.

Grab Attention

Also at 3rd level, you may use a bonus action to spend one of your Bardic Inspiration dice in an attempt to distract a foe. Roll the die and add your charisma bonus along with your proficiency bonus. The chosen enemy has to make a concentration check against the result for any spell it is currently concentrating on. If it fails, it drops concentration and takes psychic damage equal to the original Bardic Inspiration roll.  

Rending Insults

At 6th level, your quick tongue makes your insults cut even deeper. You gain an Anticipation meter. Every time you critically hit a creature, kill a creature or one of your inspiration dice is spent in combat (either by adding it to a roll, by the use of Grab Attention or by the use of Acknowledge Failure), the Anticipation meter is increased by one point, to a maximum value of half your bard level (rounded down). Whenever you use your action to cast Vicious Mockery, you empty this meter and add 1d6 damage per Anticipation Point removed. Should the target’s save succeed, you only remove half of your current Anticipation Points.  

Acknowledge Failure

At level 14, when a creature within 60 feet misses you or an ally with an attack roll, you may use your reaction to cast Vicious Mockery at it, spending one of your Bardic Inspiration dice and adding the rolled result to the damage of the spell. This feature may not be used if no uses of Bardic Inspiration are available. Additionally, the following options are added to your Experienced Heckler feature:   Polysyllabic Pun: The next attack from the creature must be targeted at a random target within 30 feet and within range. It cannot be forced to target its allies with this effect.   Enraging Truth: The targeted creature receives a -5 penalty to their next attack roll, but an additional damage die if the attack hits. If the attack uses multiple kinds of damage dice, the highest one is used.   Condescending Sign: The targeted creature receives a +5 bonus to their next attack roll, but loses one of their damage dice when rolling damage for the attack. If the attack uses multiple kinds of damage dice, the highest one is removed.   Upsetting Taunt: The creature immediately uses its reaction to move a distance equal to half of its movement speed toward you.   At level 14, when a creature within 60 feet misses you or an ally with an attack roll, you may use your reaction to cast Vicious Mockery at it, spending one of your Bardic Inspiration dice and adding the rolled result to the damage of the spell. This feature may not be used if no uses of Bardic Inspiration are available. Additionally, the following options are added to your Experienced Heckler feature:   Polysyllabic Pun: The next attack from the creature must be targeted at a random target within 30 feet and within range. It cannot be forced to target its allies with this effect.   Enraging Truth: The targeted creature receives a -5 penalty to their next attack roll, but an additional damage die if the attack hits. If the attack uses multiple kinds of damage dice, the highest one is used.   Condescending Sign: The targeted creature receives a +5 bonus to their next attack roll, but loses one of their damage dice when rolling damage for the attack. If the attack uses multiple kinds of damage dice, the highest one is removed.   Upsettting Taunt: The creature immediately uses its reaction to move a distance equal to half of its movement speed toward you.  

College of Stars

---

To some, wandering the roads of the world is enough to live a full and thoroughly satisfying life. Traveling from one place to the other, hearing the tales and stories of hundreds of different people can easily transition from a means to an end to a way of life. Those who join the College of Stars follow this mindset, as they don’t like staying in one place for too long, preferring instead to explore forgotten places and wander along the hidden paths carving their way through mountains and wild forests.  

Nightowl

Upon joining this college at 3rd level, your experience on the road and with travel gives you a sense of extreme calm and tranquility. You no longer require sleep, but you can still sleep if you wish. When taking a long rest, you may remain awake and can do light activity, such as reading or sitting watch while your companions sleep. In addition, if you finish a long rest below the night sky, you gain temporary hit points equal to the maximum value of your Bardic Inspiration die.  

Familiar Roads

Also at 3rd level, you have the ability to discern your precise geographical location. As long as you can see the sky above, you know your current position in relation to major landmarks and cities. If you are searching for an area unfamiliar to you, such as a bandit camp or a hidden temple, you may expend a Bardic Inspiration to have a faint trail of light appear on the ground. This trail will show the most direct, undisrupted route to the location and is visible only to you. The trail lasts for one hour before it fades away.  

Starfall

rain down on you foes. As an action, you may expend and roll a Bardic Inspiration die, choosing a point within 30 feet of you. Stars will fall in a 10 foot cube centered on the point you chose, and each creature in the area must make a Dexterity saving throw of feel the smite of a fallen star. On a failed save, the creature takes damage equaling an amount of d6s determined by the number rolled on your Bardic Inspiration die, meaning a roll of 4 would equal 4d6 damage. The damage can be either force or radiant and you decide which upon using this feature. If the creature succeeds on its saving throw, it takes no damage.   Once you’ve used this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.  

Starry Eyed

Starting at 14th level, you can make your eyes glow with the light of stars. You activate this as an action, and in doing so, grant yourself the ability to discern falsehoods and perceive weaknesses in the people around you. While this feature is active, you have truesight to a range of 10 feet and blindsight to a range of 60 feet. You also have advantage on Wisdom checks, and you gain a bonus equal to your Charisma modifier to your initiative, attack rolls, and saving throws. In addition, when you make a weapon attack against a creature while this feature is active, the creature takes extra damage equal to your Charisma modifier. This extra damage is either radiant, and you decide which when you hit with the attack. This feature lasts for 1 minute.   Once you’ve used this feature, you can’t use it again until you finished a long rest, and you gain 1 level of exhaustion once the feature ends.  

College of Swords

---

Bards of the College of Swords are called blades, and they entertain through daring feats of weapon prowess. Blades perform stunts such as sword swallowing, knife throwing and juggling, and mock combats. Though they use their weapons to entertain, they are also highly trained and skilled warriors in their own right.   Their talent with weapons inspires many blades to lead double lives. One blade might use a circus troupe as cover for nefarious deeds such as assassination, robbery, and blackmail. Other blades strike at the wicked, bringing justice to bear against the cruel and powerful. Most troupes are happy to accept a blade’s talent for the excitement it adds to a performance, but few entertainers fully trust a blade in their ranks.   Blades who abandon their lives as entertainers have often run into trouble that makes maintaining their secret activities impossible. A blade caught stealing or engaging in vigilante justice is too great a liability for most troupes. With their weapon skills and magic, these blades either take up work as enforcers for thieves’ guilds or strike out on their own as adventurers.  

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Swords at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with medium armor and the scimitar.   If you’re proficient with a simple or martial melee weapon, you can use it as a spellcasting focus for your bard spells.  

Fighting Style

At 3rd level, you adopt a style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if something in the game lets you choose again.   Dueling When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.   Two-Weapon Fighting When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.  

Blade Flourish

At 3rd level, you learn to perform impressive displays of martial prowess and speed.   Whenever you take the Attack action on your turn, your walking speed increases by 10 feet until the end of the turn, and if a weapon attack that you make as part of this action hits a creature, you can use one of the following Blade Flourish options of your choice. You can use only one Blade Flourish option per turn.   Defensive Flourish. You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the target you hit. The damage equals the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die. You also add the number rolled to your AC until the start of your next turn.   Slashing Flourish. You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the target you hit and to any other creature of your choice that you can see within 5 feet of you. The damage equals the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die.   Mobile Flourish. You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the target you hit. The damage equals the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die. You can also push the target up to 5 feet away from you, plus a number of feet equal to the number you roll on that die. You can then immediately use your reaction to move up to your walking speed to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the target.  

Extra Attack

Starting at 6th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.  

Master’s Flourish

Starting at 14th level, whenever you use a Blade Flourish option, you can roll a d6 and use it instead of expending a Bardic Inspiration die.  

College of Valor

---

Bards of the College of Valor are daring skalds whose tales keep alive the memory of the great heroes of the past, and thereby inspire a new generation of heroes. These bards gather in mead halls or around great bonfires to sing the deeds of the mighty, both past and present. They travel the land to witness great events firsthand and to ensure that the memory of those events doesn’t pass from the world. With their songs, they inspire others to reach the same heights of accomplishment as the heroes of old.  

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Valor at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with medium armor, shields, and martial weapons.  

Combat Inspiration

Also at 3rd level, you learn to inspire others in battle. A creature that has a Bardic Inspiration die from you can roll that die and add the number rolled to a weapon damage roll it just made. Alternatively, when an attack roll is made against the creature, it can use its reaction to roll the Bardic Inspiration die and add the number rolled to its AC against that attack, after seeing the roll but before knowing whether it hits or misses.  

Extra Attack

Starting at 6th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.  

Battle Magic

At 14th level, you have mastered the art of weaving spellcasting and weapon use into a single harmonious act. When you use your action to cast a bard spell, you can make one weapon attack as a bonus action.  

College of Whispers

---

Most folk are happy to welcome a bard into their midst. Bards of the College of Whispers use this to their advantage. They appear to be like other bards, sharing news, singing songs, and telling tales to the audiences they gather. In truth, the College of Whispers teaches its students that they are wolves among sheep. These bards use their knowledge and magic to uncover secrets and turn them against others through extortion and threats.   Many other bards hate the College of Whispers, viewing it as a parasite that uses a bard’s reputation to acquire wealth and power. For this reason, members of this college rarely reveal their true nature. They typically claim to follow some other college, or they keep their actual calling secret in order to infiltrate and exploit royal courts and other settings of power.  

Psychic Blades

When you join the College of Whispers at 3rd level, you gain the ability to make your weapon attacks magically toxic to a creature’s mind.   When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal an extra 2d6 psychic damage to that target. You can do so only once per round on your turn.   The psychic damage increases when you reach certain levels in this class, increasing to 3d6 at 5th level, 5d6 at 10th level, and 8d6 at 15th level.  

Words of Terror

At 3rd level, you learn to infuse innocent-seeming words with an insidious magic that can inspire terror.   If you speak to a humanoid alone for at least 1 minute, you can attempt to seed paranoia in its mind. At the end of the conversation, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be frightened of you or another creature of your choice. The target is frightened in this way for 1 hour, until it is attacked or damaged, or until it witnesses its allies being attacked or damaged.   If the target succeeds on its saving throw, the target has no hint that you tried to frighten it.   Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.  

Mantle of Whispers

At 6th level, you gain the ability to adopt a humanoid’s persona. When a humanoid dies within 30 feet of you, you can magically capture its shadow using your reaction. You retain this shadow until you use it or you finish a long rest.   You can use the shadow as an action. When you do so, it vanishes, magically transforming into a disguise that appears on you. You now look like the dead person, but healthy and alive. This disguise lasts for 1 hour or until you end it as a bonus action.   While you’re in the disguise, you gain access to all information that the humanoid would freely share with a casual acquaintance. Such information includes general details on its background and personal life, but doesn’t include secrets. The information is enough that you can pass yourself off as the person by drawing on its memories.   Another creature can see through this disguise by succeeding on a Wisdom (Insight) check contested by your Charisma (Deception) check. You gain a +5 bonus to your check.   Once you capture a shadow with this feature, you can’t capture another one with it until you finish a short or long rest.  

Shadow Lore

At 14th level, you gain the ability to weave dark magic into your words and tap into a creature’s deepest fears.   As an action, you magically whisper a phrase that only one creature of your choice within 30 feet of you can hear. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. It automatically succeeds if it doesn’t share a language with you or if it can’t hear you. On a successful saving throw, your whisper sounds like unintelligible mumbling and has no effect.   On a failed saving throw, the target is charmed by you for the next 8 hours or until you or your allies attack it, damage it, or force it to make a saving throw. It interprets the whispers as a description of its most mortifying secret. You gain no knowledge of this secret, but the target is convinced you know it.   The charmed creature obeys your commands for fear that you will reveal its secret. It won’t risk its life for you or fight for you, unless it was already inclined to do so. It grants you favors and gifts it would offer to a close friend.   When the effect ends, the creature has no understanding of why it held you in such fear.   Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.